Zitat:As requested by Sapience, here is a summary of changes covering the Captain class, intended to help ease the transition from the old system to the new, and to highlight what was removed, merged, added, and changed.

Note: Any of the highlighted information may be subject to change.

[This is a work in progress. Based on Build 5, updated 04/11/13]

A Brief Introduction

The class changes and new trait trees are a significant update to LOTRO's class system, and many will be understandably nervous about the transition. While these changes are huge, the core gameplay remains the same, and the fundamentals of the class are still in place. Captain remains a flexible heavy armour class that can DPS, heal or tank (and can do each of these significantly better in the respective trees), all the while providing a slew of buffs to the Captain, and to the Fellowship at large.

Skills

The first thing to note is that while some skills have been removed, their functionality has been merged into other skills. Additionally, some skills that might initially appear like they have been removed are found either directly locked behind a class specialisation (Valiant Strike, Shadow's Lament, and Threatening Shout) or are located in the trait trees. Skill cooldowns are decreased almost across the board.

Tactics

Perhaps the most notable omissions are the Tactics skills, which are now active combat buffs that proc when Sure Strike is used followed a Battle-readied event (i.e. Battle-shout). These buffs last for 30s and there is a legacy available that can boost thus up by a further 15s, for a total duration of 45s. The specific buffs are tied behind each specialisation, but they all provide a slew of boosts, so at least some of these will benefit any class.

The Mark skills can now be found in tier 2 of each of the trait lines. Generally speaking a player will pick just one of them, but hybrid builds may have two or all three.

Noble Mark applies a very small Light Damage DoT to a mob and heals the Captain for 1% of his/her morale every time the Captain (and only the Captain) strikes the mob.

Telling Mark and Revealing Mark's stats remain unchanged.

The cooldowns for all Marks have been removed.

Motivating Speech and In Defence of Middle-earth (IDOME) have been merged into a single toggle skill, Improved Motivating Speech, which stays on. The legacy boost of +5% morale has been incorporated into the base skill, which now provides +10% morale. The IDOME portion of the buff now provides +1 stat per level up to 85, then +3 stats per level from 85-95, for a total of +115 to each stat at level 95. A new toggle skill, Invigorating Speech (and Improved Invigorating Speech with the IDOME merge) has been added, which provides +10% power, allowing for different buffs from two different Captains in a Fellowship.

Brother Skills have seen some big changes. They are now tied by line, but the buffs they provide are more appealing across the board.

Defensive Strike has been removed, but a set bonus for Leader of Men provides the armour buff from this to Sure Strike, along with a boost to Parry.

Sure Strike has a cooldown of 3s, down from 6s. It also now triggers the Tactics buffs when used in a Battle-readied state.

Escape from Darkness is our only in-combat rez skill for all builds, but it upgrades to a newly revamped Cry of Vengeance in the Hands of Healing line, which allows for a specific person to be targeted for a rez, while also bringing up another person within a short radius. Either variant of the rez has a 5 min cooldown as standard. The upgrade applies the same buff to nearby Fellowship members that it did previously. We still have our out-of-combat rez Inspiriting Call.

Rallying Cry and Routing Cry can now be used without a Defeat Event, but they are stronger with one. The power heal for the former or stun for the latter (when appropriately traited) only apply with a Defeat Event. Both have a 15s cooldown, down from 45s.

Time of Need (now with a 2 min cooldown, down from 5 mins) no longer costs morale, instead costing a small amount of power (85 power at level 85). In addition to it giving the Captain a Defeat Event, it provides the following 20s buff for just the Captain:

Strength of Will has largely been replaced by the various Call skills (see New Skills).

Battle-shout has a 20s cooldown. Range increased from 20m to 40m (to help with ranged pulls, since Threatening Shout and Noble Mark are gated by the Leader of Men line).

Kick has a cooldown of 20s (down from 1 min).

Muster Courage has a cooldown of 20s (down from 30s). It now removes one Fear/Wound/Disease/Poison instead of 3 Fears.

Grave Wound has a cooldown of 20s (down from 30s). It always applies its bleed and no longer increases threat (due to the threat revamp).

Valiant Strike has a cooldown of 30s (down from 1 min 30s).

Shadow's Lament has a cooldown of 20s (down from 45s).

Make Haste has a cooldown of 3 mins (down from 5 mins).

Last Stand has a cooldown of 5 mins (down from 15 mins). It has a duration of 5s as standard (15s with legacy). It no longer applies a heal on finish.

In Harm's Way has a cooldown of 3 mins (down from 5 mins). Traiting for it can reduce incoming damage by 20% while active.

Shield of the Dúnedain has a cooldown of 2 mins (down from 5 mins). It's duration is now 10s, down from 15s (but can be increased to 20s with a legacy). It can now be cast on self (making it a powerful tanking tool).

Oathbreaker's Shame has a cooldown of 3 mins (down from 5 mins).

Battle-readied states (Battle-shout, Time of Need, Shadow's Lament, Valiant Strike) provide the following buff to the Captain:

Gallant Display (Hands of Healing): A melee skill that heals the Fellowship. The more often it is used, the more it heals and damages, but the more it costs (in morale and power) too. 5s cooldown.

Reform the Lines! (Hands of Healing): Costs substantial morale (~3,500 at 85), but heals the Fellowship by 10% of their morale initially, plus 4% every 2s for 10s. 2 min cooldown.

Standard of Honour (Hands of Healing): Must be targeted at a mob. Drops a banner, deals direct Light damage, and then heals nearby Fellowship members by a small amount every 1s for 30s. 1 min cooldown.

Song-brother's Call (Hands of Healing): While active, if the Captain or Song-brother crits, the other will receive a Tactical Mastery Rating buff. 1 min 30s cooldown.

Standard of War (Lead the Charge): Must be targeted at a mob. Drops a banner, deals direct Light damage, and boosts damage of nearby Fellowship members by 15% (when fully traited) for 30s. 1 min cooldown.

Blade-brother's Call (Lead the Charge): While active, if the Captain or Blade-brother hits, the other will receive a damage buff. 1 min 30s cooldown.

Strength in Numbers (Leader of Men): Grants a small Heal over Time (per 1s over 5s) to the Captain, based on the number of nearby Fellowship members (up to 5). 1 min 30s cooldown.

Standard of Valour (Leader of Men): Must be targeted at a mob. Drops a banner, deals direct Light damage, and boosts Incoming Healing of nearby Fellowship members by 15% (when fully traited) for 30s. 1 min cooldown.

Shield-brother's Call (Leader of Men): While active, if the Captain or Blade-brother gets hit, the other will receive a morale boost. 1 min 30s cooldown

One thing Captains may notice immediately is that they can no longer plant a Standard to receive the banner buffs. Instead we must summon our neglected Heralds to provide these buffs. Before you panic, most of the reasons why Standards were vastly superior have been addressed, resulting in Heralds being far more viable than before. Note that the same applies to Archers.

1. Heralds and Standards are no longer mutually exclusive. You can slot your Standard and still summon a Herald, thus benefiting from the boost to your character's stats and having a pet out simultaneously.
2. Heralds can now be summoned in combat. This addresses the problem of them dying in a battle and the Captain and Fellowship losing the applicable buffs.
3. Heralds can now be summoned much more quickly. The summoning induction has been reduced from 3s to 1s, making it far easier to get the Herald back into battle.
4. Herald survivability and damage has been significantly increased, making them far more useful. I used to have a Herald called Useless, but he now deserves a name change.
5. Pet AI has improved. If you haven't used your Herald in a while, you might not be aware of improvements to the AI and the Rally! icon added with Rise of Isengard, which allows you to summon the Herald to wherever you are standing. This addresses problems where pets get stuck or cannot reach your location (if you jump down a cliff, for example), or end up going the long way around, aggroing while they go.
The buffs the Heralds give have also been changed:

Banner of War: +2% Melee, Ranged and Tactical Damage
Banner of Victory: -2% Power Cost
Banner of Honour: +2% Physical Mitigation, +2% Tactical Mitigation
Given the relatively small values of these buffs, a Captain who absolutely hates Heralds could forgo them. I would encourage you to give them a chance, however.

Trait Trees

Note: Number in (brackets) is the number of ranks of that trait available.

Tier 6 (30 Ranks): Blessing of the Blade (Captain gains the full benefits of the Blade-brother skills and buffs)

Tier 7 (35 Ranks): Master of War (Critical Hits with Inspire or Shadow's Lament guarantee crits for the next melee or ranged skill used by the Captain or Blade-brother. Banner of War provides a stacking Critical Rating buff to nearby Fellowship members whenever they use a skill)

Tier 6 (30 Ranks): Blessing of the Shield (Captain gains the full benefits of the Shield-brother skills and buffs)

Tier 7 (35 Ranks): Exemplar (When the Captain or Shield-brother are hit, both have a chance to be healed. Critical Hits against the Captain or Shield-brother reduce the active cooldown of Strength in Numbers by 1s and Shield of the Dúnedain by 2s)

With so many changes to skills and traits, roughly half of Captain legacies have been altered. These should automatically change to their new variants, so no one will be stuck with obsolete legacies.

The major thing to note is that all cooldown legacies have been replaced. The reduction in cooldown has been applied to the base skill, so we haven't lost out on this. It has simply become standard. For example, Kick was previously on a 1 min cooldown, and the legacy used to reduce this by 30s. Now the skill is on a 30s cooldown by default for all Captains.

Q: Why was War-cry removed?
A: The skill was removed, but the functionality remains, albeit separated by line. In Hands of Healing, Rallying Cry provides the +5% Damage buff that Improved War-cry previously applied. In Lead the Charge, Routing Cry provides the +15% Attack Speed buff that War-cry previously applied. In Leader of Men, Routing Cry simply provides a stun.

Q: Why was the Now For Wrath trait removed?
A: The power restore added to Rallying Cry is now part of the Rallying Roar trait, found in tier 6 of Hands of Healing. The power heal only applies when Rallying Cry is used with a Defeat Event.

Q: Why would the tanking Captain provide tanking buffs to others or the healing Captain provide healing buffs to others?
A: To understand this, it is important to note that the buffs also apply to the Captain. The tier six passive set bonus of each line gives the Captain the full benefits of the Brother skills. Thus the tanking Captain will receive the tanking buffs he/she is giving others and the healing Captain will receive the healing buffs he/she is giving others. Likewise for the dps Captain in Lead the Charge. Most of the buffs provide some use to all classes.